Synchronizing content with third-party application

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are provided for synchronizing messages. The systems and methods include operations for: identifying a difference between a current state of a messaging application and a shared synchronization database, wherein the shared synchronization database is updated via a third-party application in response to the third-party application receiving, from a server, a notification related to the messaging application, the messaging application and the third-party application being implemented on a client device; retrieving information from the shared synchronization database to update the current state of the messaging application based on the identified difference; and transmitting, to the server by the messaging application, a request for content based on the update to the current state of the messaging application.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to the technical field ofsocial networks. In particular, the present embodiments are generallydirected to managing message synchronization.

BACKGROUND

As the popularity of social networking grows, social networks areexpanding their capabilities. To improve ease of use, social networksare integrating more and more functions such that a user may accomplishmany or even most of their computer-based tasks within the socialnetwork itself. One vision of social networks is that they eventuallybecome a virtual operating system, from which a user seldom finds a needto remove themselves.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, like numeralsmay describe similar components in different views. To easily identifythe discussion of any particular element or act, the most significantdigit or digits in a reference number refer to the figure number inwhich that element is first introduced. Some embodiments are illustratedby way of example, and not limitation, in the figures of theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example messaging system forexchanging data (e.g., messages and associated content) over a network,according to example embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating data which may be stored inthe database of a messaging server system, according to exampleembodiments.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a structure of a messagegenerated by a messaging client application for communication, accordingto example embodiments.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an example message synchronizationsystem, according to example embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating example operations of the messagesynchronization system, according to example embodiments.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a representative softwarearchitecture, which may be used in conjunction with various hardwarearchitectures herein described, according to example embodiments.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating components of a machine able toread instructions from a machine-readable medium (e.g., amachine-readable storage medium) and perform any one or more of themethodologies discussed herein, according to example embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The description that follows includes systems, methods, techniques,instruction sequences, and computing machine program products thatembody illustrative embodiments of the disclosure. In the followingdescription, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific detailsare set forth in order to provide an understanding of variousembodiments. It will be evident, however, to those skilled in the art,that embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. Ingeneral, well-known instruction instances, protocols, structures, andtechniques are not necessarily shown in detail.

Often, users consume media content, and specifically videos, on a userdevice, such as a mobile device. Such media content is typicallyexchanged in chat sessions between users. Sometimes users log on and logoff a server that maintains the contents of the chat sessions. In orderto ensure that the latest chat messages, that were exchanged in the chatsession while the user device has been disconnected from the server, arepresented to the user, a user device synchronizes with the server.Typically, the server will send the content of all the messages thatwere exchanged while the user device was disconnected from the server.Some of these messages are rich in large-sized content, such as videosand images. Synchronizing such content between a server and a userdevice consumes a great deal of processing resources and networkbandwidth which makes synchronization sessions operate inefficiently.Also, synchronizing such content can take a long time which furtherdelays presenting the latest chat messages to the user and can end upfrustrating the users.

In some cases, a dedicated operating system process, such as a pushnotification application, receives messages or data corresponding to amessaging application. For example, a first user may send a message, viaa messaging application of a first user devices of the first user to asecond user. A messaging application of a second user device of thesecond user may be inactive when the first user sends such a message. Insuch circumstances, the push notification application of the operatingsystem of the second user device may receive and present the message tothe second user. Typically, the push notification application does notcommunicate with the messaging application and works independently ofthe messaging application. As such, the messaging application is notinformed about the receipt of the message from the first user. So whenthe messaging application ultimately synchronizes its content with theserver, the messaging application may request content from the serverthat may have already been delivered to the second user device throughalternate means, such as by way of the push notification application.This results in wasted bandwidth and processing resources in performingduplicative work. In this case, the duplicative work is the receipt of amessage that has already been provided to the second user device byother means.

The disclosed embodiments improve the efficiency of using the electronicdevice by providing a system that efficiently synchronizes contentbetween a server and a user device. According to the disclosed system,only content that differs between the user device and the server andthat has not already been sent to a third-party application, such as apush notification application, or a messaging application on the userdevice is transmitted to the user device in a synchronization session.In this way, if one application, such as a third-party application, onthe user device obtained content while a messaging application isoffline, such content can be shared with the messaging application, andneed not be requested to be provided by the messaging application fromthe server. As such, the server avoids sending duplicate information tothe user device when the messaging application of the user deviceultimately connects back to the server. Specifically, the disclosedsystem receives, from a server by a third-party application implementedon a client device, a notification related to a messaging applicationand updates, by the third-party application, a shared synchronizationdatabase based on the notification. The disclosed system identities adifference between a current state of the messaging application and theshared synchronization database and retrieves information from theshared synchronization database to update the current state of themessaging application based on the identified difference. Then, themessaging application transmits, to the server, a request for contentbased on the update to the current state of the messaging applicationand does not request content that was already obtained from the sharedsynchronization database via the third-party application.

Rather than sending the entire contents of the messages exchanged aspart of a communication session after a user device disconnected from aserver, the disclosed system only sends those messages that the userdevice did not already obtain using a different application, such as apush notification application. Specifically, a messaging application onthe user device may end a connection with a server and may receive afirst set of messages from a push application. The push application mayupdate a shared synchronization database with the first set of messages.Later, the messaging application, prior to connecting back to the serverto receive a set of synchronization data, identifies a set of data themessaging application is missing that is included in the sharedsynchronization database. The messaging application updates the missingdata and requests from the server any further updates not including themissing data that was obtained from the synchronization database. Thisincreases the efficiencies of the electronic device by reducingprocessing times and network bandwidth needed to accomplish a task.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example messaging system 100 forexchanging data (e.g., messages and associated content) over a network106. The messaging system 100 includes multiple client devices 102, eachof which hosts a number of applications, including a messaging clientapplication 104 and a third-party application 105. Each messaging clientapplication 104 is communicatively coupled to other instances of themessaging client application 104, the third-party application 105, and amessaging server system 108 via a network 106 (e.g., the Internet).

Accordingly, each messaging client application 104 and third-partyapplication 105 is able to communicate and exchange data with anothermessaging client application 104 and third-party application(s) 105 andwith the messaging server system 108 via the network 106. The dataexchanged between messaging client applications 104, third-partyapplications 105, and the messaging server system 108 includes functions(e.g., commands to invoke functions) and payload data (e.g., text,audio, video, or other multimedia data). Any disclosed communicationsbetween the messaging client application 104 and the third-partyapplication(s) 105 can be transmitted directly from the messaging clientapplication 104 to the third-party application(s) 105 and/or indirectly(e.g., via one or more servers) from the messaging client application104 to the third-party application(s) 105.

The third-party application(s) 105 and the messaging client application104 are applications that include a set of functions that allow theclient device 102 to access a message synchronization system 124. Thethird-party application 105 is an application that is separate anddistinct from the messaging client application 104. The third-partyapplication(s) 105 are downloaded and installed by the client device 102separately from the messaging client application 104. In someimplementations, the third-party application(s) 105 are downloaded andinstalled by the client device 102 before or after the messaging clientapplication 104 is downloaded and installed. The third-party application105 is an application that is provided by an entity or organization thatis different from the entity or organization that provides the messagingclient application 104. The third-party application 105 is anapplication that can be accessed by a client device 102 using separatelogin credentials than the messaging client application 104. Namely, thethird-party application 105 can maintain a first user account and themessaging client application 104 can maintain a second user account. Forexample, the third-party application 105 can be a social networkingapplication, a dating application, a ride or car sharing application, ashopping application, a trading application, a gaming application, or animaging application. In some cases, the third-party application 105 isan operating system process (e.g., a push notification application) thathandles push notifications for various applications installed on theclient device 102. The push notification application is configured toreceive messages from one or more servers and automatically present thereceived messages to the user. The messages may be received out-of-bandand without a synchronization or refresh operation being performed bythe client device 102.

The messaging server system 108 provides server-side functionality viathe network 106 to a particular messaging client application 104. Whilecertain functions of the messaging system 100 are described herein asbeing performed by either a messaging client application 104 or by themessaging server system 108, it will be appreciated that the location ofcertain functionality either within the messaging client application 104or the messaging server system 108 is a design choice. For example, itmay be technically preferable to initially deploy certain technology andfunctionality within the messaging server system 108, but to latermigrate this technology and functionality to the messaging clientapplication 104 where a client device 102 has a sufficient processingcapacity.

The messaging server system 108 supports various services and operationsthat are provided to the messaging client application 104. Suchoperations include transmitting data to, receiving data from, andprocessing data generated by the messaging client application 104. Thisdata may include message content, client device information, geolocationinformation, media annotation and overlays, virtual objects, messagecontent persistence conditions, social network information, and liveevent information, as examples. Data exchanges within the messagingsystem 100 are invoked and controlled through functions available viauser interfaces (UIs) of the messaging client application 104.

Turning now specifically to the messaging server system 108, an APIserver 110 is coupled to, and provides a programmatic interface to, anapplication server 112. The application server 112 is communicativelycoupled to a database server 118, which facilitates access to a database120 in which is stored data associated with messages processed by theapplication server 112.

Dealing specifically with the API server 110, this server 110 receivesand transmits message data (e.g., commands and message payloads) betweenthe client device 102 and the application server 112. Specifically, theAPI server 110 provides a set of interfaces (e.g., routines andprotocols) that can be called or queried by the messaging clientapplication 104 and the third-party application 105 in order to invokefunctionality of the application server 112. The API server 110 exposesvarious functions supported by the application server 112, includingaccount registration; login functionality; the sending of messages, viathe application server 112, from a particular messaging clientapplication 104 to another messaging client application 104 orthird-party application 105; the sending of media files images or video)from a messaging client application 104 to the messaging serverapplication 114, and for possible access by another messaging clientapplication 104 or third-party application 105; the setting of acollection of media data (e.g., story); the retrieval of suchcollections; the retrieval of a list of friends of a user of a clientdevice 102; the retrieval of messages and content; the adding anddeleting of friends to a social graph; the location of friends within asocial graph; access to user conversation data; access to avatarinformation stored on messaging server system 108; and opening anapplication event (e.g., relating to the messaging client application104).

The application server 112 hosts a number of applications andsubsystems, including a messaging server application 114; an imageprocessing system 116, a social network system 122, and the messagesynchronization system 124. The messaging server application 114implements a number of message processing technologies and functions,particularly related to the aggregation and other processing of content(e.g., textual and multimedia content) included in messages receivedfrom multiple instances of the messaging client application 104. As willbe described in further detail, the text and media content from multiplesources may be aggregated into collections of content (e.g., calledstories or galleries). These collections are then made available, by themessaging server application 114, to the messaging client application104. Other processor- and memory-intensive processing of data may alsobe performed server-side by the messaging server application 114, inview of the hardware requirements for such processing.

The application server 112 also includes an image processing system 116that is dedicated to performing various image processing operations,typically with respect to images or video received within the payload ofa message at the messaging server application 114. A portion of theimage processing system 116 may also be implemented by the messagesynchronization system 124.

The social network system 122 supports various social networkingfunctions and services and makes these functions and services availableto the messaging server application 114. To this end, the social networksystem 122 maintains and accesses an entity graph within the database120. Examples of functions and services supported by the social networksystem 122 include the identification of other users of the messagingsystem 100 with which a particular user has relationships or is“following” and also the identification of other entities and interestsof a particular user. Such other users may be referred to as the user'sfriends. Social network system 122 may access location informationassociated with each of the user's friends to determine where they liveor are currently located geographically. Social network system 122 maymaintain a location profile for each of the user's friends indicatingthe geographical location where the user's friends live.

The message synchronization system 124 manages synchronization ofmessages exchanged in a communication session. For example, the messagesynchronization system 124 establishes a communication session between aplurality of users (e.g., a chat session in which multiple chat messagesare exchanged). The messaging client application 104 implemented on theclient device 102 communicates with the message synchronization system124 to receive messages transmitted as part of the communicationsession. Specifically, messages are sent from one user to another viathe message synchronization system 124. The message synchronizationsystem 124 keeps track of all the messages that are exchanged and sendsupdates to client devices 102 that are connected to the messagesynchronization system 124.

In some cases, the message synchronization system 124 stores datarelating to the messaging client application 104 in a sharedsynchronization database. The shared synchronization database may bestored locally on the client device 102 and/or on a remote server. Thedata may include identifiers of messages that were received by athird-party application 105. The data may also include identifiers ofmessages received by the messaging client application 104.

For example, the messaging client application 104 may go offline (e.g.,because a user closed the application and/or because of loss of Internetconnectivity). Once the same messaging client application 104 connectsback to the message synchronization system 124, the messagesynchronization system 124 determines whether the shared synchronizationdatabase includes additional messages were exchanged or sent by users inthe communication session. Such additional messages may have beenreceived by the third-party application 105 and have been stored in theshared synchronization database. In some cases, the messagesynchronization system 124 retrieves the timestamp of the last time themessaging client application 104 received an update from the messagingserver system 108. The message synchronization system 124 compares thetimestamp to timestamps of messages stored in the shared synchronizationdatabase to identify a set of messages that were exchanged after thetimestamp of the last time the messaging client application 104 receivedthe update. Namely, the message synchronization system 124 identifiestimestamps that follow the timestamp of the last time the messagingclient application 104 was synchronized or refreshed.

The message synchronization system 124 obtains the set of messages fromthe third-party application 105 and/or from the shared synchronizationdatabase. The message synchronization system 124 locally updates thecurrent state of the messaging client application 104 with the obtainedset of messages.

The message synchronization system 124 then generates synchronizationdata based on the current state of the messaging client application 104.Specifically, the message synchronization system 124 generates a requestto synchronize messages with the server 108 based on the timestamps ofthe messages that were stored in the shared synchronization databaserather than the last timestamp of when the last time the messagingclient application 104 refreshed or synchronized content with the server108. The server 108 determines whether additional messages or contentwere exchanged following the latest timestamp of the messages obtainedfrom the shared synchronization database. The server 108 provides to themessaging client application 104 any messages that are missing from theupdated state of the messaging client application 104, such as anyadditional messages or content were exchanged following the latesttimestamp of the messages obtained from the shared synchronizationdatabase. In some cases, the server 108 does not find any messages thatare missing from the messaging client application 104. In such cases, noupdated information is provided to the messaging client application 104.In some cases, after updated content is received by the messaging clientapplication 104 from the server 108, the shared synchronization databaseis updated with this information retrieved from the server 108.

In some cases, the synchronization data includes a vector of sequencenumbers of messages that were exchanged. In some implementations, thevector identifies users who participate in the communication session andsequence numbers of messages sent by such users. In some cases, thevector is a matrix in which columns of the matrix represent differentparticipants of the communication session and rows of the matrixrepresent sequence numbers of messages sent by the differentparticipants.

The messaging client application 104 obtains the synchronization dataincluding the vector from the shared synchronization database. Themessaging client application 104 generates a vector that representsmessages already received by the messaging client application 104 thatwere previously exchanged in the communication session. The messagingclient application 104 identifies differences between the vectorgenerated by the messaging client application 104 and thesynchronization data received from the shared synchronization database.

As an example, the messaging client application 104 compares the vectorof sequence numbers generated by the messaging client application 104and the vector of sequence numbers received from the sharedsynchronization database. The messaging client application 104identifies one or more sequence numbers that are in the vector ofsequence numbers received from the shared synchronization database andthat are not in the vector generated by the messaging client application104. The messaging client application 104 retrieves messages from thethird-party application 105 corresponding to the identified one or moresequence numbers. The messaging client application 104 then generates anew vector of sequence numbers that includes the newly retrievedmessages from the third-party application 105. The messaging clientapplication 104 transmits a request to the server 108 to synchronizedata based on the new vector of sequence numbers. The server 108generates a vector of sequence numbers corresponding to a communicationsession of the messaging client application 104. The server 108identifies differences between the vector received from the messagingclient application 104 and the vector generated by the server 108. Theserver 108 then sends to the messaging client application 104 anymessages that are associated with sequence numbers that are in thevector generated by the server 108 and that are not in the vectorreceived from the messaging client application 104.

In this way, the given client device 102 may employ the techniquesdescribed herein to reduce network bandwidth by having the messagingclient application 104 compare a vector of sequence numbers of messagesexchanged in a communication session received from by the third-partyapplication 105 and that are stored in a shared synchronization databaseto update the state of the messaging client application 104 before themessaging client application 104 communicates with the server 108 toobtain updates to a communication session.

The application server 112 is communicatively coupled to a databaseserver 118, which facilitates access to a database 120 in which isstored data associated with messages processed by the messaging serverapplication 114. Database 120 may be a third-party database. Forexample, the application server 112 may be associated with a firstentity, and the database 120 or a portion of the database 120 may beassociated with and hosted by a second, different entity. In someimplementations, database 120 stores user data that the first entitycollects about various each of the users of a service provided by firstentity. For example, the user data includes user names, passwords,addresses, friends, activity information, preferences, videos or contentconsumed by the user, and so forth.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram 200 illustrating data, which may be storedin the database 120 of the messaging server system 108, according tocertain example embodiments. While the content of the database 120 isshown to comprise a number of tables, it will be appreciated that thedata could be stored in other types of data structures (e.g., as anobject-oriented database).

The database 120 includes message data stored within a message table214. An entity table 202 stores entity data, including an entity graph204. Entities for which records are maintained within the entity table202 may include individuals, corporate entities, organizations, objects,places, events, and so forth. Regardless of type, any entity regardingwhich the messaging server system 108 stores data may be a recognizedentity. Each entity is provided with a unique identifier, as well as anentity type identifier (not shown).

The entity graph 204 stores information regarding relationships andassociations between entities. Such relationships may be social,professional (e.g., work at a common corporation or organization),interest-based, or activity-based, merely for example.

Message table 214 may store a collection of conversations between a userand one or more friends or entities. Message table 214 may includevarious attributes of each conversation, such as the list ofparticipants, the size of the conversation (e.g., number of users and/ornumber of messages), the chat color of the conversation, a uniqueidentifier for the conversation, and any other conversation relatedfeature(s).

The database 120 also stores annotation data, in the example form offilters, in an annotation table 212. Database 120 also stores annotatedcontent received in the annotation table 212. Filters for which data isstored within the annotation table 212 are associated with and appliedto videos (for which data is stored in a video table 210) and/or images(for which data is stored in an image table 208). Filters, in oneexample, are overlays that are displayed as overlaid on an image orvideo during presentation to a recipient user. Filters may be of varioustypes, including user-selected filters from a gallery of filterspresented to a sending user by the messaging client application 104 whenthe sending user is composing a message. Other types of filters includegeolocation filters (also known as geo-filters), which may be presentedto a sending user based on geographic location. For example, geolocationfilters specific to a neighborhood or special location may be presentedwithin a UI by the messaging client application 104, based ongeolocation information determined by a Global Positioning System (GPS)unit of the client device 102. Another type of filter is a data filter,which may be selectively presented to a sending user by the messagingclient application 104, based on other inputs or information gathered bythe client device 102 during the message creation process. Examples ofdata filters include current temperature at a specific location, acurrent speed at which a sending user is traveling, battery life for aclient device 102, or the current time.

Other annotation data that may be stored within the image table 208 isso-called “lens” data. A “lens” may be a real-time special effect andsound that may be added to an image or a video.

As mentioned above, the video table 210 stores video data which, in oneembodiment, is associated with messages for which records are maintainedwithin the message table 214. Similarly, the image table 208 storesimage data associated with messages for which message data is stored inthe entity table 202. The entity table 202 may associate variousannotations from the annotation table 212 with various images and videosstored in the image table 208 and the video table 210.

Shared synchronization data 207 stores various information aboutmessages exchanged in a communication session. Shared synchronizationdata 207 is a shared data storage that is accessible to the messagingclient application 104 and to the third-party application 105. In somecases, the third-party application 105 receives a notificationcontaining a message associated with the messaging client application104. The messaging client application 104 not be informed about thismessage but the message may still be presented to the user. In responseto receiving the message, the third-party application 105 stores anidentifier of the message or notification (e.g., one or more sequencenumbers or a vector of sequence numbers associated with the message) inthe shared synchronization data 207.

The messaging client application 104 may access the sharedsynchronization data 207 to determine whether any notifications havebeen received by the third-party application 105 and which have not beenupdated or received by the messaging client application 104 (e.g., whenthe messaging client application 104 was offline, messages may have beenreceived by the third-party application 105). The messaging clientapplication 104 may update the local state of the communication sessionof the messaging client application 104 based on the updated informationincluded in the shared synchronization data 207 before the messagingclient application 104 requests to synchronize content with a remotesource, such as server 108. After the messaging client application 104updates its current state, the messaging client application 104communicates with the server 108 to obtain further updates based on theupdated current state of the messaging client application 104.

In some embodiments, the information stored in the sharedsynchronization data 207 includes a vector or matrix representingparticipants to a communication session and/or sequence numbers ofmessages sent by the respective participants associated with themessaging client application 104. Such messages may be received by thethird-party application 105 but may not be received by the messagingclient application 104 (e.g., because the messaging client application104 is offline). The sequence numbers are associated with the messagesand can be used to uniquely identify each respective message that isexchanged in the communication session. As an example, a client device102 or messaging client application 104 may send a sequence number tothe message synchronization system 124 and/or to the sharedsynchronization data 207 and request content or messages associated withthe sequence number. The message synchronization system 124 and/or theshared synchronization data 207 identifies the contents or messageassociated with the received sequence number and sends the contents ormessage associated with the sequence number to the client device 102 ormessaging client application 104. In some cases, the messagesynchronization system 124 uses the shared synchronization data 207information to identify a set of synchronization data (e.g., a vector ofsequence numbers) that includes identifiers of messages with timestampsthat were received by the third-party application 105 after the lasttime the messaging client application 104 received a last message, waslast updated, and/or was last connected to the message synchronizationsystem 124.

A story table 206 stores data regarding collections of messages andassociated image, video, or audio data, which are compiled into acollection (e.g., a story or a gallery). The creation of a particularcollection may be initiated by a particular user (e.g., each user forwhich a record is maintained in the entity table 202). A user may createa “personal story” in the form of a collection of content that has beencreated and sent/broadcast by that user. To this end, the UI of themessaging client application 104 may include an icon that isuser-selectable to enable a sending user to add specific content to hisor her personal story.

A collection may also constitute a “live story,” which is a collectionof content from multiple users that is created manually, automatically,or using a combination of manual and automatic techniques. For example,a “live story” may constitute a curated stream of user-submitted contentfrom various locations and events. Users whose client devices 102 havelocation services enabled and are at a common location event at aparticular time may, for example, be presented with an option, via a UIof the messaging client application 104, to contribute content to aparticular live story. The live story may be identified to the user bythe messaging client application 104 based on his or her location. Theend result is a “live story” told from a community perspective.

A further type of content collection is known as a “location story,”which enables a user whose client device 102 is located within aspecific geographic location (e.g., on a college or university campus)to contribute to a particular collection. In some embodiments, acontribution to a location story may require a second degree ofauthentication to verify that the end user belongs to a specificorganization or other entity (e.g., is a student on the universitycampus).

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a structure of a message 300,according to some embodiments, generated by a messaging clientapplication 104 for communication to a further messaging clientapplication 104 or the messaging server application 114. The content ofa particular message 300 is used to populate the message table 214stored within the database 120, accessible by the messaging serverapplication 114. Similarly, the content of a message 300 is stored inmemory as “in-transit” or “in-flight” data of the client device 102 orthe application server 112. The message 300 is shown to include thefollowing components:

-   -   A message identifier 302: a unique identifier that identifies        the message 300.    -   A message text payload 304: text, to be generated by a user via        a UI of the client device 102 and that is included in the        message 300.    -   A message image payload 306: image data, captured by a camera        component of a client device 102 or retrieved from memory of a        client device 102, and that is included in the message 300.    -   A message video payload 308: video data, captured by a camera        component or retrieved from a memory component of the client        device 102 and that is included in the message 300.    -   A message audio payload 310: audio data, captured by a        microphone or retrieved from the memory component of the client        device 102, and that is included in the message 300.    -   Message annotations 312: annotation data (e.g., filters,        stickers, or other enhancements) that represents annotations to        be applied to message image payload 306, message video payload        308, or message audio payload 310 of the message 300.    -   A message duration parameter 314: parameter value indicating, in        seconds, the amount of time for which content of the message        (e.g., the message image payload 306, message video payload 308,        message audio payload 310) is to be presented or made accessible        to a user via the messaging client application 104.    -   A message geolocation parameter 316: geolocation data (e.g.,        latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates) associated with the        content payload of the message. Multiple message geolocation        parameter 316 values may be included in the payload, with each        of these parameter values being associated with respect to        content items included in the content (e.g., a specific image        within the message image payload 306, or a specific video in the        message video payload 308).    -   A message story identifier 318: identifier value identifying one        or more content collections (e.g., “stories”) with which a        particular content item in the message image payload 306 of the        message 300 is associated. For example, multiple images within        the message image payload 306 may each be associated with        multiple content collections using identifier values.    -   A message tag 320: each message 300 may be tagged with multiple        tags, each of which is indicative of the subject matter of        content included in the message payload. For example, where a        particular image included in the message image payload 306        depicts an animal (e.g., a lion), a tag value may be included        within the message tag 320 that is indicative of the relevant        animal. Tag values may be generated manually, based on user        input, or may be automatically generated using, for example,        image recognition.    -   A message sender identifier 322: an identifier (e.g., a        messaging system identifier, email address, or device        identifier) indicative of a user of the client device 102 on        which the message 300 was generated and from which the message        300 was sent.    -   A message receiver identifier 324: an identifier (e.g., a        messaging system identifier, email address, or device        identifier) indicative of user(s) of the client device 102 to        which the message 300 is addressed. In the case of a        conversation between multiple users, the identifier may indicate        each user involved in the conversation.

The contents (e.g., values) of the various components of message 300 maybe pointers to locations in tables within which content data values arestored. For example, an image value in the message image payload 306 maybe a pointer to (or address of) a location within an image table 208.Similarly, values within the message video payload 308 may point to datastored within a video table 210, values stored within the messageannotations 312 may point to data stored in an annotation table 212,values stored within the message story identifier 318 may point to datastored in a story table 206, and values stored within the message senderidentifier 322 and the message receiver identifier 324 may point to userrecords stored within an entity table 202.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an example message synchronizationsystem 124, according to example embodiments. Message synchronizationsystem 124 includes a communication session module 414, asynchronization module 416, and a message transmission module 418. Thecommunication session module 414 enables users to engage in acommunication session to exchange messages with each other. In somecases, the communication session includes a group of three or more usersin which case any message sent by one user is viewable by the other twousers in the group. In some cases, the communication session includesonly two users where one user sends messages to another user and viceversa.

After initiating a communication session using the communication sessionmodule 414, messages are transferred between users of the communicationsession using the communication session module 414. For example, thecommunication session module 414 receives a message from a first user inthe communication session and marks the message for transmission to asecond user in the communication session. The communication sessionmodule 414 stores the message along with various information indicatingthe recipient, the communication session identifier, a sequence number,an identifier of the sender, and a timestamp representing when themessage was received. In some cases, in response to receiving a givenmessage from a participant or sender, the communication session module414 identifies a vector associated with the participant or sender andthe value of the last sequence number that is stored in the vector. Thecommunication session module 414 increments the value of the lastsequence number that is stored to generate a new sequence number for thegiven message, associates the new sequence number with the givenmessage, and adds the new sequence number to the vector stored for thesender or participant. In this way, each participant of thecommunication session is assigned a vector with sequence numbersrepresenting messages sent by the respective participants.

When the second user logs into the message application, thecommunication session module 414 receives an identifier of the seconduser and determines whether any messages that have not been deliveredyet to the second user and that are intended for the second user toreceive. In some cases, the communication session module 414 receives alast update timestamp from the second user. The communication sessionmodule 414 searches the receive time of all the messages that areintended for receipt by the second user. The communication sessionmodule 414 selects those messages that have a receive time that is laterthan the last update timestamp. The communication session module 414then sends all of the selected messages to the user device of the seconduser for presentation in the communication session of the message clientapplication 104.

In some embodiments, after a given user of the communication sessionlogs off, the communication session module 414 stores a timestampindicating the last time an update was sent to the client device 102 ofthe user. In some embodiments, the communication session module 414continuously updates the timestamp for a given client device 102 eachtime an update including new messages of the communication session issent to the given client device 102. This way, the timestamp alwaysrepresents the last time the given client device 102 was connected toand received a message from e communication session module 414.

In some embodiments, after the messaging client application 104 logsoff, the given client device 102 of the given user may receive messagesthat are part of the communication session using a third-partyapplication 105. For example, the third-party application 105 may be apush notifications application that is configured to receive messagesout-of-band. Such an application may receive a message and present themessage to the user while the messaging client application 104 is loggedoff. The third-party application 105 may store an indication of thereceived message in the shared synchronization data 207. For example,the third-party application 105 may store a participant identifier andone or more sequence numbers of the message received from theparticipant.

At a later time, the messaging client application 104 may determine aneed to synchronize its content (e.g., when a polling period is reachedor when a user requests to refresh the data of the messaging clientapplication 104). At that time, the communication session module 414instructs the synchronization module 416 to send the sharedsynchronization data 207 to the messaging client application 104 verifywhether the messaging client application 104 has all of the messagesthat are part of the communication session before the messaging clientapplication 104 communicates with the remote server to obtain updatedmessages.

In some embodiments, the synchronization module 416 generates a vectorof sequence numbers and participant identifiers using the set ofmessages stored in the shared synchronization data 207. Namely, thesynchronization module 416 generates a vector that includes sequencenumbers or identifiers of messages that the synchronization module 416identifies were exchanged during the period of time following the lasttime the messaging client application 104 last received an update or waslast connected to the communication session module 414. Thesynchronization module 416 sends the synchronization data (e.g., thevector of sequence numbers) to the messaging client application 104.

The messaging client application 104 generates a local data setrepresenting messages exchanged in the communication session that arelocally stored. In some cases, the messaging client application 104generates a vector that represents participants to the communicationsession and the sequence numbers of the messages sent by theparticipants that are stored on the messaging client application 104.The messaging client application 104 compares the receivedsynchronization data with the current state of (e.g., a vector ofsequence numbers of the communication session currently stored by) themessaging client application 104 to identify differences. For example,the messaging client application 104 compares the vector of sequencenumbers received from the synchronization module 416 that are in theshared synchronization data 207 (including messages received by thethird-party application 105) to the locally generated vector of sequencenumbers of messages currently stored in the messaging client application104. The synchronization module 416 compares the vector of sequencenumbers received from the shared synchronization data 207 with a vectorof sequence numbers generated by the messaging client application 104.The synchronization module 416 identifies any differences andautomatically sends content or messages corresponding to the differences(e.g., sends messages corresponding to sequence numbers that are in thevector obtained from the shared synchronization data 207 that are notalso in the vector received from the messaging client application 104).Namely, the messaging client application 104 updates the current stateof the communication session with the updated content or messagescorresponding to the differences.

The messaging client application 104 sends a request to thesynchronization module 416 to obtain content from a remote server, suchas server 108, for content associated with differences between theupdated state of the messaging client application 104 and the currentstate maintained by the server 108. Specifically, the messaging clientapplication 104 generates a new vector of sequence numbers representingthe updated state of the messaging client application 104. The messagingclient application 104 sends to the server 108 a request for messagesassociated with a set of sequence numbers that are not already includedin the new vector of sequence numbers. Namely, the messaging clientapplication 104 requests that the server 108 provide any messagesexchanged in the communication session that were not previously storedby the messaging client application 104 and that were not previouslyreceived by the third-party application 105.

In response to receiving the request from the messaging clientapplication 104, the server 108 sends via the message transmissionmodule 418 one or more messages corresponding to the received request.For example, the synchronization module 416 instructs the messagetransmission module 418 to retrieve messages associated with thesequence numbers that are stored by the server 108 in connection withthe communication session and that are not in the new vector of sequencenumbers received from the messaging client application 104. The messagetransmission module 418 obtains the messages and updates thecommunication session that is stored and maintained locally anddisplayed to the user with the messages obtained from the messagetransmission module 418.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating example operations of the messagesynchronization system 124 in performing process 500, according toexample embodiments. The process 500 may be embodied incomputer-readable instructions for execution by one or more processorssuch that the operations of the process 500 may be performed in part orin whole by the functional components of the messaging server system108, client device 102, and/or third-party application 105; accordingly,the process 500 is described below by way of example with referencethereto. However, in other embodiments, at least some of the operationsof the process 500 may be deployed on various other hardwareconfigurations. The process 500 is therefore not intended to be limitedto the messaging server system 108 and can be implemented in whole, orin part, by any other component. Some or all of the operations ofprocess 500 can be in parallel, out of order, or entirely omitted.

At operation 501, the computing system (e.g., client device 102)receives, from a server, by a third-party application implemented on thecomputing system a notification related to a messaging application. Forexample, the third-party application 105 receives a message from aserver that includes a participant identifier of a user involved in acommunication session and a sequence number of the message.

At operation 502, the computing system updates, via the third-partyapplication, a shared synchronization database based on thenotification. For example, the third-party application 105, such as thepush notification application or process of the operating system of thecomputing system, presents a notification to the user of the computingsystem with the received message and updates the shared synchronizationdata 207 with information, such as the participant identifier and thesequence number of the message.

At operation 503, the computing system identifies a difference between acurrent state of the messaging application and the sharedsynchronization database. For example, the messaging client application104 retrieves notification information from the shared synchronizationdata 207 (that was provided by the third-party application 105) andgenerates a vector of sequence numbers of messages currently stored inthe messaging client application 104. The messaging client application104 determines whether the sequence numbers in the sharedsynchronization data 207 are different and are earlier or later) thanthe sequence numbers in the vector previously generated by the messagingclient application 104.

At operation 504, the computing system, such as the client device 102,retrieves information from the shared synchronization database to updatethe current state of the messaging application based on the identifieddifference. For example, the messaging client application 104 on theclient device 102 retrieves one or more messages corresponding tosequence numbers that are stored in the shared synchronization data 207(as provided by the third-party application 105) but that are not in thevector of sequence numbers generated by the messaging client application104.

At operation 505, the computing system transmits via the messagingapplication to the server, a request for content based on the update tothe current state of the messaging application. For example, themessaging client application 104 requests that the server providemessages with sequence numbers that are not in the updated messagingclient application 104. Specifically, the messaging client application104 requests that the server provide updates or synchronize content ofthe messaging client application 104 that has not been provided alreadyto the client device 102 by other means, such as via the third-partyapplication 105. Namely, if the third-party application 105 receivedthird and fourth messages in a communication session that have not beenreceived by the messaging client application 104, the messaging clientapplication 104 can retrieve such third and fourth messages from thelocal shared synchronization data 207. Then, the messaging clientapplication 104, when performing a synchronization operation with theserver, need not request that the third and fourth messages be provided.Instead, the messaging client application 104 requests that the serverprovide any messages that came after the third and fourth messages. Inshort, the messaging client application 104 performs two synchronizationoperations. First, the messaging client application 104 updates itsstate by synchronizing its content based on a local synchronizationoperation using content stored in the shared synchronization data 207.Second, the messaging client application 104 synchronizes its state (asupdated by the first synchronization operation) by performing a remotesynchronization operation with the server, such as the messaging serversystem 108, to synchronize content with content stored on the server.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an example software architecture606, which may be used in conjunction with various hardwarearchitectures herein described. FIG. 6 is a non-limiting example of asoftware architecture and it will be appreciated that many otherarchitectures may be implemented to facilitate the functionalitydescribed herein. The software architecture 606 may execute on hardwaresuch as machine 700 of FIG. 7 that includes, among other things,processors 704, memory 714, and input/output (I/O) components 718. Arepresentative hardware layer 652 is illustrated and can represent, forexample, the machine 700 of FIG. 7. The representative hardware layer652 includes a processing unit 654 having associated executableinstructions 604. Executable instructions 604 represent the executableinstructions of the software architecture 606, including implementationof the methods, components, and so forth described herein. The hardwarelayer 652 also includes memory and/or storage modules memory/storage656, which also have executable instructions 604. The hardware layer 652may also comprise other hardware 658.

In the example architecture of FIG. 6, the software architecture 606 maybe conceptualized as a stack of layers where each layer providesparticular functionality. For example, the software architecture 606 mayinclude layers such as an operating system 602, libraries 620,frameworks/middleware 618, applications 616, and a presentation layer614. Operationally, the applications 616 and/or other components withinthe layers may invoke API calls 608 through the software stack andreceive messages 612 in response to the API calls 608. The layersillustrated are representative in nature and not all softwarearchitectures have all layers. For example, some mobile or specialpurpose operating systems may not provide a frameworks/middleware 618,while others may provide such a layer. Other software architectures mayinclude additional or different layers.

The operating system 602 may manage hardware resources and providecommon services. The operating system 602 may include, for example, akernel 622, services 624, and drivers 626. The kernel 622 may act as anabstraction layer between the hardware and the other software layers.For example, the kernel 622 may be responsible for memory management,processor management (e.g., scheduling), component management,networking, security settings, and so on. The services 624 may provideother common services for the other software layers. The drivers 626 areresponsible for controlling or interfacing with the underlying hardware.For instance, the drivers 626 include display drivers, camera drivers,Bluetooth® drivers, flash memory drivers, serial communication drivers(e.g., Universal Serial Bus (USB) drivers), Wi-Fi® drivers, audiodrivers, power management drivers, and so forth depending on thehardware configuration.

The libraries 620 provide a common infrastructure that is used by theapplications 616 and/or other components and/or layers. The libraries620 provide functionality that allows other software components toperform tasks in an easier fashion than to interface directly with theunderlying operating system 602 functionality (e.g., kernel 622,services 624 and/or drivers 626). The libraries 620 may include systemlibraries 644 (e.g., C standard library) that may provide functions suchas memory allocation functions, string manipulation functions,mathematical functions, and the like. In addition, the libraries 620 mayinclude API libraries 646 such as media libraries (e.g., libraries tosupport presentation and manipulation of various media format such asMPEG4, H.264, MP3, AAC, AMR, JPG, PNG), graphics libraries (e.g., anOpenGL framework that may be used to render two-dimensional andthree-dimensional in a graphic content on a display), database libraries(e.g., SQLite that may provide various relational database functions),web libraries (e.g., WebKit that may provide web browsingfunctionality), and the like. The libraries 620 may also include a widevariety of other libraries 648 to provide many other APIs to theapplications 616 and other software components/modules.

The frameworks/middleware 618 (also sometimes referred to as middleware)provide a higher-level common infrastructure that may be used by theapplications 616 and/or other software components/modules. For example,the frameworks/middleware 618 may provide various graphical userinterface functions, high-level resource management, high-level locationservices, and so forth. The frameworks/middleware 618 may provide abroad spectrum of other APIs that may be utilized by the applications616 and/or other software components/modules, some of which may bespecific to a particular operating system 602 or platform.

The applications 616 include built-in applications 638 and/orthird-party applications 640. Examples of representative built-inapplications 638 may include, but are not limited to, a contactsapplication, a browser application, a book reader application, alocation application, a media application, a messaging application,and/or a game application. Third-party applications 640 may include anapplication developed using the ANDROID™ or IOS™ software developmentkit (SDK) by an entity other than the vendor of the particular platform,and may be mobile software running on a mobile operating system such asIOS™, ANDROID™, WINDOWS® Phone, or other mobile operating systems. Thethird-party applications 640 may invoke the API calls 608 provided bythe mobile operating system (such as operating system 602) to facilitatefunctionality described herein.

The applications 616 may use built-in operating system functions (e.g.,kernel 622, services 624, and/or drivers 626), libraries 620, andframeworks/middleware 618 to create UIs to interact with users of thesystem. Alternatively, or additionally, in some systems, interactionswith a user may occur through a presentation layer, such as presentationlayer 614. In these systems, the application/component “logic” can beseparated from the aspects of the application/component that interactwith a user.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating components of a machine 700,according to some example embodiments, able to read instructions from amachine-readable medium (e.g., a machine-readable storage medium) andperform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.Specifically, FIG. 7 shows a diagrammatic representation of the machine700 in the example form of a computer system, within which instructions710 (e.g., software, a program, an application, an applet, an app, orother executable code) for causing the machine 700 to perform any one ormore of the methodologies discussed herein may be executed. As such, theinstructions 710 may be used to implement modules or componentsdescribed herein. The instructions 710 transform the general,non-programmed machine 700 into a particular machine 700 programmed tocarry out the described and illustrated functions in the mannerdescribed. In alternative embodiments, the machine 700 operates as astandalone device or may be coupled (e.g., networked) to other machines.In a networked deployment, the machine 700 may operate in the capacityof a server machine or a client machine in a server-client networkenvironment, or as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed)network environment. The machine 700 may comprise, but not be limitedto, a server computer, a client computer, a personal computer (PC), atablet computer, a laptop computer, a netbook, a set-top box (STB), apersonal digital assistant (PDA), an entertainment media system, acellular telephone, a smart phone, a mobile device, a wearable device(e.g., a smart watch), a smart home device a smart appliance), othersmart devices, a web appliance, a network router, a network switch, anetwork bridge, or any machine capable of executing the instructions710, sequentially or otherwise, that specify actions to be taken bymachine 700. Further, while only a single machine 700 is illustrated,the term “machine” shall also be taken to include a collection ofmachines that individually or jointly execute the instructions 710 toperform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.

The machine 700 may include processors 704, memory/storage 706, and I/Ocomponents 718, which may be configured to communicate with each othersuch as via a bus 702. In an example embodiment, the processors 704(e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction setcomputing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC)processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a digital signal processor(DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), aradio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor, or anysuitable combination thereof) may include, for example, a processor 708and a processor 712 that may execute the instructions 710. The term“processor” is intended to include multi-core processors 704 that maycomprise two or more independent processors (sometimes referred to as“cores”) that may execute instructions 710 contemporaneously. AlthoughFIG. 7 shows multiple processors 704, the machine 700 may include asingle processor 708 with a single core, a single processor 708 withmultiple cores (e.g., a multi-core processor), multiple processors 708,712 with a single core, multiple processors 708, 712 with multiplecores, or any combination thereof.

The memory/storage 706 may include a memory 714, such as a main memory,or other memory storage, and a storage unit 716, both accessible to theprocessors 704 such as via the bus 702. The storage unit 716 and memory714 store the instructions 710 embodying any one or more of themethodologies or functions described herein. The instructions 710 mayalso reside, completely or partially, within the memory 714, within thestorage unit 716, within at least one of the processors 704 (e.g.,within the processor's cache memory), or any suitable combinationthereof, during execution thereof by the machine 700. Accordingly, thememory 714, the storage unit 716, and the memory of processors 704 areexamples of machine-readable media.

The I/O components 718 may include a wide variety of components toreceive input, provide output, produce output, transmit information,exchange information, capture measurements, and so on. The specific I/Ocomponents 718 that are included in a particular machine 700 will dependon the type of machine. For example, portable machines such as mobilephones will likely include a touch input device or other such inputmechanisms, while a headless server machine will likely not include sucha touch input device. It will be appreciated that the I/O components 718may include many other components that are not shown in FIG. 7. The I/Ocomponents 718 are grouped according to functionality merely forsimplifying the following discussion and the grouping is in no waylimiting. In various example embodiments, the I/O components 718 mayinclude output components 726 and input components 728. The outputcomponents 726 may include visual components (e.g., a display such as aplasma display panel (PDP), a light emitting diode (LED) display, aliquid crystal display (LCD), a projector, or a cathode ray tube (CRT)),acoustic components (e.g., speakers), haptic components (e.g., avibratory motor, resistance mechanisms), other signal generators, and soforth. The input components 728 may include alphanumeric inputcomponents (e.g., a keyboard, a touch screen configured to receivealphanumeric input, a photo-optical keyboard, or other alphanumericinput components), point-based input components (e.g., a mouse, atouchpad, a trackball, a joystick, a motion sensor, or other pointinginstrument), tactile input components (e.g., a physical button, a touchscreen that provides location and/or force of touches or touch gestures,or other tactile input components), audio input components (e.g., amicrophone), and the like.

In further example embodiments, the I/O components 718 may includebiometric components 739, motion components 734, environmentalcomponents 736, or position components 738 among a wide array of othercomponents. For example, the biometric components 739 may includecomponents to detect expressions (e.g., hand expressions, facialexpressions, vocal expressions, body gestures, or eye tracking), measurebiosignals (e.g., blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature,perspiration, or brain waves), identify a person (e.g., voiceidentification, retinal identification, facial identification,fingerprint identification, or electroencephalogram basedidentification), and the like. The motion components 734 may includeacceleration sensor components (e.g., accelerometer), gravitation sensorcomponents, rotation sensor components gyroscope), and so forth. Theenvironmental components 736 may include, for example, illuminationsensor components (e.g., photometer), temperature sensor components(e.g., one or more thermometer that detect ambient temperature),humidity sensor components, pressure sensor components (e.g.,barometer), acoustic sensor components (e.g., one or more microphonesthat detect background noise), proximity sensor components (e.g.,infrared sensors that detect nearby objects), gas sensors (e.g., gasdetection sensors to detection concentrations of hazardous gases forsafety or to measure pollutants in the atmosphere), or other componentsthat may provide indications, measurements, or signals corresponding toa surrounding physical environment. The position components 738 mayinclude location sensor components (e.g., a GPS receiver component),altitude sensor components (e.g., altimeters or barometers that detectair pressure from which altitude may be derived), orientation sensorcomponents (e.g., magnetometers), and the like.

Communication may be implemented using a wide variety of technologies.The I/O components 718 may include communication components 740 operableto couple the machine 700 to a network 737 or devices 729 via coupling724 and coupling 722, respectively. For example, the communicationcomponents 740 may include a network interface component or othersuitable device to interface with the network 737. In further examples,communication components 740 may include wired communication components,wireless communication components, cellular communication components,near field communication (NFC) components, Bluetooth® components (e.g.,Bluetooth® Low Energy), Wi-Fi® components, and other communicationcomponents to provide communication via other modalities. The devices729 may be another machine 700 or any of a wide variety of peripheraldevices (e.g., a peripheral device coupled via a USB).

Moreover, the communication components 740 may detect identifiers orinclude components operable to detect identifiers. For example, thecommunication components 740 may include radio frequency identification(RFID) tag reader components, NFC smart tag detection components,optical reader components (e.g., an optical sensor to detectone-dimensional bar codes such as Universal Product Code (UPC) bar code,multi-dimensional bar codes such as Quick Response (QR) code, Azteccode, Data Matrix, Dataglyph, MaxiCode, PDF417, Ultra Code, UCC RSS-2Dbar code, and other optical codes), or acoustic detection components(e.g., microphones to identify tagged audio signals). In addition, avariety of information may be derived via the communication components740, such as location via Internet Protocol (IP) geo-location, locationvia Wi-Fi® signal triangulation, location via detecting a NFC beaconsignal that may indicate a particular location, and so forth.

Glossary:

“CARRIER SIGNAL,” in this context, refers to any intangible medium thatis capable of storing, encoding, or carrying transitory ornon-transitory instructions 710 for execution by the machine 700, andincludes digital or analog communications signals or other intangiblemedium to facilitate communication of such instructions 710.Instructions 710 may be transmitted or received over the network 106using a transitory or non-transitory transmission medium via a networkinterface device and using any one of a number of well-known transferprotocols.

“CLIENT DEVICE,” in this context, refers to any machine 700 thatinterfaces to a communications network 106 to obtain resources from oneor more server systems or other client devices 102. A client device 102may be, but is not limited to, a mobile phone, desktop computer, laptop,PDAs, smart phones, tablets, ultra books, netbooks, laptops,multi-processor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumerelectronics, game consoles, set-top boxes, or any other communicationdevice that a user may use to access a network 106.

“COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK,” in this context, refers to one or moreportions of a network 106 that may be an ad hoc network, an intranet, anextranet, a virtual private network (VPN), a local area network (LAN), awireless LAN (WLAN), a wide area network (WAN), a wireless WAN (WWAN), ametropolitan area network (MAN), the Internet, a portion of theInternet, a portion of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), aplain old telephone service (POTS) network, a cellular telephonenetwork, a wireless network, a Wi-Fi®, network, another type of network,or a combination of two or more such networks. For example, a network106 or a portion of a network may include a wireless or cellular networkand the coupling may be a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)connection, a Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) connection,or other type of cellular or wireless coupling. In this example, thecoupling may implement any of a variety of types of data transfertechnology, such as Single Carrier Radio Transmission Technology(1×RTT), Evolution-Data Optimized (EVDO) technology, General PacketRadio Service (CPRS) technology, Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution(EDGE) technology, third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) including3G, fourth generation wireless (4G) networks, Universal MobileTelecommunications System (UMTS), High Speed Packet Access (HSPA),Worldwide interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), Long TermEvolution (LTE) standard, others defined by various standard settingorganizations, other long range protocols, or other data transfertechnology.

“EPHEMERAL MESSAGE,” in this context, refers to a message 300 that isaccessible for a time-limited duration. An ephemeral message may be atext, an image, a video, and the like. The access time for the ephemeralmessage may be set by the message sender. Alternatively, the access timemay be a default setting or a setting specified by the recipient.Regardless of the setting technique, the message 300 is transitory.

“MACHINE-READABLE MEDIUM,” in this context, refers to a component,device, or other tangible media able to store instructions 710 and datatemporarily or permanently and may include, but is not limited to,random-access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), buffer memory, flashmemory, optical media, magnetic media, cache memory, other types ofstorage (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM)) and/orany suitable combination thereof. The term “machine-readable medium”should be taken to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., acentralized or distributed database, or associated caches and servers)able to store instructions 710. The term “machine-readable medium” shallalso be taken to include any medium, or combination of multiple media,that is capable of storing instructions 710 (e.g., code) for executionby a machine 700, such that the instructions 710, when executed by oneor more processors 704 of the machine 700, cause the machine 700 toperform any one or more of the methodologies described herein.Accordingly, a “machine-readable medium” refers to a single storageapparatus or device, as well as “cloud-based” storage systems or storagenetworks that include multiple storage apparatus or devices. The term“machine-readable medium” excludes signals per se.

“COMPONENT,” in this context, refers to a device, physical entity, orlogic having boundaries defined by function or subroutine calls, branchpoints, APIs, or other technologies that provide for the partitioning ormodularization of particular processing or control functions. Componentsmay be combined via their interfaces with other components to carry outa machine process. A component may be a packaged functional hardwareunit designed for use with other components and a part of a program thatusually performs a particular function of related functions. Componentsmay constitute either software components (e.g., code embodied on amachine-readable medium) or hardware components. A “hardware component”is a tangible unit capable of performing certain operations and may beconfigured or arranged in a certain physical manner. In various exampleembodiments, one or more computer systems (e.g., a standalone computersystem, a client computer system, or a server computer system) or one ormore hardware components of a computer system (e.g., a processor or agroup of processors) may be configured by software (e.g., an applicationor application portion) as a hardware component that operates to performcertain operations as described herein.

A hardware component may also be implemented mechanically,electronically, or any suitable combination thereof. For example, ahardware component may include dedicated circuitry or logic that ispermanently configured to perform certain operations. A hardwarecomponent may be a special-purpose processor, such as afield-programmable gate array (FPGA) or an ASIC. A hardware componentmay also include programmable logic or circuitry that is temporarilyconfigured by software to perform certain operations. For example, ahardware component may include software executed by a general-purposeprocessor 708 or other programmable processor. Once configured by suchsoftware, hardware components become specific machines (or specificcomponents of a machine 700) uniquely tailored to perform the configuredfunctions and are no longer general-purpose processors 708. It will beappreciated that the decision to implement a hardware componentmechanically, in dedicated and permanently configured circuitry, or intemporarily configured circuitry (e.g., configured by software) may bedriven by cost and time considerations. Accordingly, the phrase“hardware component” (or “hardware-implemented component”) should beunderstood to encompass a tangible entity, be that an entity that isphysically constructed, permanently configured (e.g., hardwired), ortemporarily configured (e.g., programmed) to operate in a certain manneror to perform certain operations described herein. Consideringembodiments in which hardware components are temporarily configured(e.g., programmed), each of the hardware components need not beconfigured or instantiated at any one instance in time. For example,where a hardware component comprises a general-purpose processor 708configured by software to become a special-purpose processor, thegeneral-purpose processor 708 may be configured as respectivelydifferent special-purpose processors (e.g., comprising differenthardware components) at different times. Software accordingly configuresa particular processor 708 or processors 704, for example, to constitutea particular hardware component at one instance of time and toconstitute a different hardware component at a different instance oftime.

Hardware components can provide information to, and receive informationfrom, other hardware components. Accordingly, the described hardwarecomponents may be regarded as being communicatively coupled. Wheremultiple hardware components exist contemporaneously, communications maybe achieved through signal transmission (e.g., over appropriate circuitsand buses) between or among two or more of the hardware components. Inembodiments in which multiple hardware components are configured orinstantiated at different times, communications between such hardwarecomponents may be achieved, for example, through the storage andretrieval of information in memory structures to which the multiplehardware components have access. For example, one hardware component mayperform an operation and store the output of that operation in a memorydevice to which it is communicatively coupled. A further hardwarecomponent may then, at a later time, access the memory device toretrieve and process the stored output.

Hardware components may also initiate communications with input oroutput devices, and can operate on a resource (e.g., a collection ofinformation). The various operations of example methods described hereinmay be performed, at least partially, by one or more processors 704 thatare temporarily configured (e.g., by software) or permanently configuredto perform the relevant operations. Whether temporarily or permanentlyconfigured, such processors 704 may constitute processor-implementedcomponents that operate to perform one or more operations or functionsdescribed herein. As used herein, “processor-implemented component”refers to a hardware component implemented using one or more processors704. Similarly, the methods described herein may be at least partiallyprocessor-implemented, with a particular processor 708 or processors 704being an example of hardware. For example, at least some of theoperations of a method may be performed by one or more processors 704 orprocessor-implemented components. Moreover, the one or more processors704 may also operate to support performance of the relevant operationsin a “cloud computing” environment or as a “software as a service”(SaaS). For example, at least some of the operations may be performed bya group of computers (as examples of machines 700 including processors704), with these operations being accessible via a network 106 (e.g.,the Internet) and via one or more appropriate interfaces (e.g., an API).The performance of certain of the operations may be distributed amongthe processors, not only residing within a single machine 700, butdeployed across a number of machines. In some example embodiments, theprocessors 704 or processor-implemented components may be located in asingle geographic location (e.g., within a home environment, an officeenvironment, or a server farm). In other example embodiments, theprocessors 704 or processor-implemented components may be distributedacross a number of geographic locations.

“PROCESSOR,” in this context, refers to any circuit or virtual circuit(a physical circuit emulated by logic executing on an actual processor708) that manipulates data values according to control signals (e.g.,“commands,” “op codes,” “machine code,” etc.) and which producescorresponding output signals that are applied to operate a machine 700.A processor 708 may, for example, be a CPU, a RISC processor, a CISCprocessor, a GPU, a DSP, an ASIC, a RFIC or any combination thereof. Aprocessor 708 may further be a multi-core processor having two or moreindependent processors 704 (sometimes referred to as “cores”) that mayexecute instructions 710 contemporaneously.

“TIMESTAMP,” in this context, refers to a sequence of characters orencoded information identifying when a certain event occurred, forexample giving date and time of day, sometimes accurate to a smallfraction of a second.

Changes and modifications may be made to the disclosed embodimentswithout departing from the scope of the present disclosure. These andother changes or modifications are intended to be included within thescope of the present disclosure, as expressed in the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving, by a third-partyapplication on a client device from a server, as a notification, amessage corresponding to a communication session of a messagingapplication implemented on a client device; presenting, by thethird-party application, the message on the client device while themessaging application is inactive, the messaging application not beinginformed about the message that has been presented on the client device;identifying a difference between a current state of the messagingapplication and a shared synchronization database, wherein the sharedsynchronization database is updated via the third-party application inresponse to the third-party application receiving the notificationrelated to the messaging application; retrieving information from theshared synchronization database to update the current state of themessaging application based on the identified difference; andtransmitting, to the server by the messaging application, a request forcontent based on the update to the current state of the messagingapplication.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the sharedsynchronization database is stored locally on the client device.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising establishing the communicationsession between a plurality of users, wherein the shared synchronizationdatabase stores identifiers of one or more messages exchanged in thecommunication session, wherein the shared synchronization databasestores a matrix comprising a plurality of vectors, a first vector of theplurality of vectors being associated with a first user of the pluralityof users, the first vector storing a first set of sequence numbers ofmessages sent by the first user, a second vector of the plurality ofvectors being associated with a second user of the plurality of users,the second vector storing a second set of sequence numbers of messagessent by the second user.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein a firstdimension of the matrix represents the plurality of users, and wherein asecond dimension of the matrix represents sequence numbers of themessages sent by the plurality of users, respectively.
 5. The method ofclaim 3, further comprising: receiving a new message from a given userof the plurality of users; identifying a given vector of the pluralityof vectors associated with the given user; generating a new sequencenumber for the new message by incrementing a value of a last sequencenumber stored in the given vector; and storing the new sequence numberin the given vector for the given user.
 6. The method of claim 1,wherein the difference identifies a given message exchanged in thecommunication session, and wherein retrieving the information comprises:obtaining the given message from the shared synchronization database;and adding the given message to the communication session of themessaging application.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:transmitting, to the server, a synchronization request from themessaging application; causing the server to identify versioninformation representing the update to the current state of themessaging application; causing the server to retrieve current versioninformation of content stored by the server; causing the server toidentify a set of versions that are later than the version informationrepresenting the update to the current state of the messagingapplication; and receiving, from the server, the content correspondingto the set of versions.
 8. The method of claim 7, further comprisingupdating the shared synchronization database based on the receivedcontent by updating version information stored in the sharedsynchronization database.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein identifyingthe difference comprises: generating, by the messaging application, afirst vector of sequence numbers; retrieving, by the messagingapplication from the shared synchronization database, a second vector ofsequence numbers; and identifying one or more sequence numbers thatdiffer between the first and second vectors.
 10. The method of claim 9,wherein retrieving information comprises accessing the third-partyapplication to retrieve one or more messages corresponding to the one ormore sequence numbers that differ between the first and second vectors.11. The method of claim 9, wherein each sequence number represents arespective message sent by a participant in the communication session,and wherein each sequence number is associated with a participantidentifier of the participant that sent the respective message.
 12. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: establishing, at a previous time,the communication session on the client device comprising a first set ofmessages received from the server; ending a synchronization session withthe server after establishing the communication session at the previoustime; receiving, by the client device, as the notification, a second setof messages in the communication session by the third-party application;identifying, as the difference, identifiers of a third set of messagesexchanged in the communication session after the previous time, thethird set of messages corresponding to a subset of the second set ofmessages that is different from the first set of messages; and updatingthe current state of the messaging application using the identifiers ofthe third set of messages.
 13. The method of claim 12, furthercomprising: causing the server to identify a fourth set of messages thatdiffer from the first set of messages and the second set of messages;and receiving, from the server, the fourth set of messages.
 14. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the third-party application comprises adedicated application on an operating system of the client deviceconfigured to receive push notifications for a plurality of applicationsimplemented on the client device, the plurality of applicationsincluding the messaging application.
 15. A system comprising: aprocessor configured to perform operations comprising: receiving, by athird-party application on a client device from a server, as anotification, a message corresponding to a communication session of amessaging application implemented on a client device; presenting, by thethird-party application, the message on the client device while themessaging application is inactive, the messaging application not beinginformed about the message that has been presented on the client device;identifying a difference between a current state of the messagingapplication and a shared synchronization database, wherein the sharedsynchronization database is updated via the third-party application inresponse to the third-party application receiving the notificationrelated to the messaging application; retrieving information from theshared synchronization database to update the current state of themessaging application based on the identified difference; andtransmitting, to the server by the messaging application, a request forcontent based on the update to the current state of the messagingapplication.
 16. The system of claim 15, wherein the sharedsynchronization database is stored at a remote location from the clientdevice different from the server.
 17. The system of claim 15, furthercomprising operations for: establishing the communication sessionbetween a plurality of users, wherein the shared synchronizationdatabase stores identifiers of one or more messages exchanged in thecommunication session.
 18. The system of claim 15, wherein thedifference identifies a given message exchanged in the communicationsession, and wherein retrieving the information comprises operationsfor: obtaining the given message from the shared synchronizationdatabase; and adding the given message to the communication session ofthe messaging application.
 19. A non-transitory machine-readable storagemedium that includes instructions that, when executed by one or moreprocessors of a machine, cause the machine to perform operationscomprising: receiving, by a third-party application on a client devicefrom a server, as a notification, a message corresponding to acommunication session of a messaging application implemented on a clientdevice; presenting, by the third-party application, the message on theclient device while the messaging application is inactive, the messagingapplication not being informed about the message that has been presentedon the client device; identifying a difference between a current stateof the messaging application and a shared synchronization database,wherein the shared synchronization database is updated via thethird-party application in response to the third-party applicationreceiving the notification related to the messaging application;retrieving information from the shared synchronization database toupdate the current state of the messaging application based on theidentified difference; and transmitting, to the server by the messagingapplication, a request for content based on the update to the currentstate of the messaging application.
 20. The non-transitorymachine-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the operationsfurther comprise: establishing the communication session between aplurality of users, wherein the shared synchronization database storesidentifiers of one or more messages exchanged in the communicationsession, wherein the shared synchronization database stores a matrixcomprising a plurality of vectors, a first vector of the plurality ofvectors being associated with a first user of the plurality of users,the first vector storing a first set of sequence numbers of messagessent by the first user, a second vector of the plurality of vectorsbeing associated with a second user of the plurality of users, thesecond vector storing a second set of sequence numbers of messages sentby the second user.